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Life & Arts

Musician notorious for shaking things up

by MARIO GUNDMUNDSSON
The Daily Cougar

Serge Gainsbourg is one of those musicians you hear of, referred to and revered as a genius, and with more than 20 full albums and just as many compilations out there, it's hard to find a place to start actually hearing the music he's famous for. Recent compilation Initials SG gives a great overview of one of the most explosive and creative musical careers in history.

Born in Paris to Russian-Jewish parents, Gainsbourg's 1958 debut record started off with "Le Poinconneur des Lilas," incidentally the first song on this collection. With nearly every song grumbled in French, it's easy to miss how smutty the lyrics really are.

This is, after all, a man who once famously freaked out a young and beautiful Whitney Houston on live French television (with a proposition that does not need to be repeated here).

The actual translation of some of the songs is in jarring contrast to the loving croon and gentle sway of the beat. "Le Poinconneur des Lilas", with its gently rolling flute and piano accompaniment, is a song about a subway ticket-puncher going murderously insane.

The romantic, 1960s ballad "Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus" (I Love You, Me Neither) helped push Gainsbourg's career into the spotlight. The song takes a look at how men and women view sex in different lights as actress Jane Birkin fakes an orgasm over the track. The Vatican's condemnation of the song as "too hot" and offensive only led to a No. 1 spot on the charts.

Subsequent recordings were experimental, politically charged and sometimes downright lewd, but all kept to the same structured chords and flowing melodies. Always following the times, Gainsbourg had hits in every decade. The classic jazz style of "Intoxicated Man" gave way to the syncopated African rhythm of Couleur Café, then reggae and disco-pop.

The man who began his career as a witty pervert ended it as such — appearing half-naked in a video with his own daughter for a song called "Lemon Incest." The man simply loved publicity. Gainsbourg died not long after that last, most divisive splash in 1991.

The contribution to music is undeniable. Gainsbourg left the path open for other songwriters to create controversy in the name of art, but songsters today follow a tough act.
 

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